CONFLICT

US, 1945, 86 minutes, Black and white.
Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Sidney Greenstreet, Charles Drake, Rose Hobart.
Directed by Curtis Bernhardt.

Conflict is a star vehicle for Humphrey Bogart, released in the aftermath of World War Two. He is teamed with Sydney Greenstreet with whom he had appeared in such films as The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca. There is a rapport between the two – and they spark off each other. Rose Hobart plays Bogart’s wife, Alexis Smith the object of his love. When his wife is killed on a country road, the suspicion falls on Bogart. Did he do it – as he investigates and tries to find out the solution to the question. The film was directed by Curtis Bernhardt who directed Bette Davis vehicles at this period, A Stolen Life and Payment on Demand.

1. The film as a melodrama of the forties, Warner Bros.' style, black and white photography, studio sets, crisp melodramatic style?

2. The film as a Humphrey Bogart vehicle and the impact of his presence? The emphasis of the title and its reference to the characters?

3. The quality of the screenplay and the situations, the contemporary background of the forties, the melodramatic style and tone? Real, unreal? Is this important for this kind of melodrama?

4. The tackling of marital issues and conventions? How credible the characters and their motivations, the reality of the issues? The underlying theme of jealousy and the musical score illustrating this?

5. Comment on the psychological interest and the emphasis on psychiatry. How convincing was this, as representing psychological insight of the forties? Cinematic interpretation of psychology and therapy? The character of Mark Hamilton, his invitation at the beginning, his interpretation of Kathryn and Dick, his various comments on their characters, his eventual role in the revelation of the truth? The significance of the influence of the psychiatrist? His theories about emotions, motivations, therapy?

6. The conventional portraying of Kathryn and Dick, the conventional squabbles? Kathryn and her bitterness, Dick and his confession to his infatuation with Evelyn? The quality of their marriage, the reason for its failure, the irony of its being their wedding anniversary? Their seeming decorum in public?

7. The contrast with Evelyn and her innocence? Her infatuation with the young doctor, the credibility of this relationship? As the object of Dick's infatuation, for example the conversation at the table?

8. Mark Hamilton and his observation of what was happening? His role in the discovery of the truth and his attempt to help Dick professionally?

9. The build-up to the accident, the melodrama in Dick's pretence, his creating of the various alibis? How involving was this in terms of crime melodrama? Could the audience note the clue about the rose? The ugliness of Dick's confronting of Kathryn and his murdering of her, his hiding the car? The symbolism of the logs and the effect that it had on Dick's mind?

10. The relationship between Evelyn and Dick after Kathryn's death? His having to watch what he said, his declaration of his love, Evelyn’s response and the conflict of emotions? The influence of the young doctor?

11. The latter part of the film as a study of a guilty man, pretending, conscience, the various clues and their exploration, the tricks of imagination, the policewoman walking into the building and Dick's interview of the landlady etc.? How contrived did this seem in retrospect? How convincing while it was being presented?

12. The inevitability of his returning to the scene of his crime, the confrontation of the truth, the relief? How enjoyable in this kind of marital and murder melodrama? Does it seem dated now? The moral fable aspects of this kind of Hollywood melodrama?